Step up

Young adults in foster care need guidance.

Kristopher Sharp, 24, a senior social work student at the University of Houston--Downtown and the UHD Student Body Vice President, spent six months living on the roof of a strip mall in northwest Houston in 2008 after aging out of the foster care system. Friday, Jan. 24, 2014. ( Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle )

Kristopher Sharp, 18, spent nearly six months living on the roof of a strip center in Houston. Before then, in Texas' foster care, he had lived in 26 institutional homes and with two foster families.

Who could blame him for trying to get beyond the system's reach? Sharp's story ("County offers hope to foster care's forgotten," Page A1, Feb. 10) underscores the need for a safety net that will prevent young people such as Sharp from languishing in the system but also highlights another deficiency: Child Protective Services, the agency charged with protecting abused and neglected children, needs more community partners to help young adults who still are wards of the state transition into independent living.

Many 18-year-olds haven't yet developed life skills to enable them to live on their own, and those emerging from foster care, whether at 18 or 21, are usually less prepared than kids who haven't grown up in the system. CPS offers six hours of classes it calls, "Preparation for Adult Living," to help these young people. But those classes are not nearly enough. As Katherine Barillas, of One Voice Texas points out, "We need to ensure that young adults who age out of foster care have the basic skills to be able to shop for groceries, rent an apartment or set up a bank account. Right now, that doesn't always happen."

Nationwide statistics for these young adults paint a dismal picture: Within 12 to 18 months of leaving foster care, 31 to 42 percent of these young adults had been arrested; 18-26 percent, incarcerated; and 40 to 60 percent of the young women were pregnant.

A study in May 2013 found that for every young person who ages out of foster care, taxpayers and communities pay $300,000 in social costs such as public assistance, incarceration and lost wages over that person's lifetime. In the greater Houston area, 218 aged out last year.

Eligible teens have access to college and vocational vouchers, and those who have aged out can qualify for a transitional living allowance of up to $1,000, and room and board of up to $3,000. But according to Gabby Valladares, a youth specialist who works with CPS' "Preparation for Adult Living" program and a foster care alumnae, many would benefit if an adult who wasn't paid to talk to them got involved in their lives.

We agree.

CPS needs more resources to do this right, but adults in our community also should step up to offer mentoring help. Doing so is cost-effective for our community, but more important, it's the right thing to do. For more information, call 713-250-7001.